It’s Field Trip Friday! One of my favorite blogging days of the week. Today, I have a Field Trip Friday with Michele from Shelstring. Michele is a sweetie full of talent. She has a beautiful family, home, and LOTS of DIY inspiration. I KNOW you will love her as much as I do. Enjoy Field Trip Friday with Michele from Shelstring…
Hello! My name is Michele. I’m so excited to be here on “Field Trip Friday” with Meegan. She is such a sweet person and I enjoy reading her field trips, so I was delighted when she asked me to be a part of one today.
I’m a mother of seven children and devoted wife.
I live in a little suburb of Eugene Oregon called Santa Clara and blog over at Shelstring (you can read more about that here). When we first saw our house, we thought it looked like the Brady Bunch house. We searched for our home for a year by the time we finally came upon this one, and I knew it was the one the moment I stepped inside. Immediately I saw the potential it had. Although we’ve worked on it ever since we bought it nine years ago, we still have a lot to do. Part of the reason is that I never feel finished once I complete a project and find myself swinging full circle back to where I started after I’m given a little time.
So I’ll show you a little peek inside, which isn’t going to be that impressive without the “before shots”, but it will be a little taste, at least, which is more than I’ve ever shared before. I’m not sure you’re going to feel priviledged since this is the first time I’ve ever blogged about my house, but I’m willing to give it a go. So come on in, we’re fortunate to be visiting on a sunny day-
I love when spring comes, the first thing I do is visit my favorite nursery and fill up all my flower pots.
This is the first thing I say when I open the door to visitors. You can read all about my
Our entry console dons a lamp I made from an heirloom butter churn my mother gave me. You can read about that at Live Creatively Inspired , where I guest post each month.
If you look straight on from the front door, you are looking into the dining area where you will see one of my most recent projects. This is the Pine hutch I painted with homemade chalk paint. This hutch holds the china I inherited from my family. It compliments the new beadboard and shaker style framed windows I completed simutaniously in the spring, just in time for guests.
One of the first things we did in our house was remodel the kitchen. I will be sharing a full tour on my blog in my Summer Home Tour Series at the end of the summer, hopefully with the before and afters. Just to give a little insight, we pushed the wall the microwave is on out two feet and made the mud room a little smaller so that we could open up the kitchen a little more. My husband and a friend installed the cabinets and I tiled the backsplash. {One of my favorite things to DIY.}
I just got finished re-organizing our hutch area. The cookbooks were getting a little sloppy and the flour and sugar were on the counter by the sink making it quite a walk when baking.
The mud room was a blank canvas. It was just empty when we moved in. We moved the wall as close to the window as possible when we renovated the kitchen to give it a little more space. Although I installed the beadboard and created the seating area, I didn’t really complete the room until this week. The chalkboard wall was a project I did last summer for the beginning of the school year.
I really had a lot of fun putting this room together. I wanted happy cheerful colors since it is gray and rainy so much of the time here.
The mudroom leads to the outside where I spend at least an hour a day in my gardens. I’m a California girl born and raised, so I don’t want to miss any sunlight when it’s out. One of the things I enjoy about the outdoors is that I often feel inspired to create something.
Here are a few of my favorite outdoor projects:
Baby to Potter– changing table made into a potting bench
Just Sittin’– log leg bench and tips to learn from
A Pallet, huh?– bench made from a pallet
Outside My Kitchen Window– Window box and herb markers
and here’s my latest creation
And a little more seating to enjoy…
our garden with it’s new peony bush this year (to the left with the pepsi crate)
Because of my love for the outdoor projects, I often find myself bringing the outdoors in.
Here’s an example:
A Planked Wall– made from our old fence boards
These are just a few of the types of things you will find me doing. I hope you will come by and visit me at Shelstring. I sure have loved visiting with all of you and hope you will also check out Meegan’s home tour on my Summer Home Tour Series. Thank you Meegan for inviting me! I hope you all have a wonderful Friday! ;)
Was I right? Did you love Michele and her amazing talents? Isn’t she full of inspiration and creativity?
Thank YOU, Michele for sharing your lovely home and ideas.
Thanks to everyone for stopping by for Field Trip Friday with Michele from Shelstring.
Make it a Field Trip Friday…
